Warning of Parasites From Sushi Spreads West

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Updated May. 12, 2017 12:50PM ET / Published May. 12, 2017 11:52AM ET

REUTERS/Issei Kato

The popularity of raw fish dishes like sushi and poké could lead to a rise in parasitic infections like anisakiasis, which can lead to fever, vomiting, and stomach pain, doctors wrote in the British Medical Journal Case Reports. Most cases of anisakiasis were found in Japan, where raw fish is a diet staple, but cases are increasingly being found in the west, the doctors wrote. Doctors in Lisbon found the parasite larva growing in a man's stomach after he complained of having suffered from anisakiasis symptoms for over a week and told doctors he had recently eaten sushi. After doctors removed the larva from the man's "inflamed" stomach wall, his symptoms "resolved immediately," doctors said. In addition to vomiting and stomach pain, anisakiasis can also trigger allergic reactions, digestive bleeding, bowel obstruction, and peritonitis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anisakiasis treatment often requires removing the parasite through surgery or, in the case of the man in Lisbon, endoscopy.